‘City can be Manhattan of India'

Hyderabad holds the potential of shaping as a global city and places such as Gachibowli and Madhapur can make it emerge as ‘Manhattan of India' in the coming years, remarked Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) Commissioner B.P. Acharya here on Saturday.

Guidelines

Participating in the inaugural of the one-day workshop on ‘HMDA's Environmental Building Guidelines of Hyderabad', organised by the Contractors Development Institute (CDI) of the National Academy of Construction, the HMDA Commissioner outlined the salient features of the guidelines and stressed the need to take them up as a movement.

Rationale

The rationale of these guidelines, apart from conservation of natural and man-made water bodies, also encompassed conservation of forest areas/vegetation, peri-urban agriculture areas and rock/geological formations.

These comprised 41 guidelines of which 13 pertained to energy,12 on water and waste water, three about ecology and geology apart from one on building material, Mr. Acharya said.

Incentives

Dwelling on incentives for those adopting environmental building concepts, he said that 10 per cent discount every year on property tax each was already in place for harnessing solar energy and recycling water.

Benefits

In his address, S. Raghupathy, Senior Director and Head, CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, observed that the concept of green building made sense for developers as it ensures operational savings and a green image, investments optimised and also that customers are demanding them.

The biggest benefit happens to be the comfort ensured for occupants, he said.

CDI Director K. Purushotham Reddy underscored the urgency to plan our cities in sustainable fashion given the high migration to the urban areas.

Lack of foresight

“Our lack of foresight so far has landed us in miseries and resulted in water bodies and gardens getting shrunk,” he said.

Ramesh Chennamaneni, Coordinator & Senior Research Fellow, Sustainable Hyderabad Project, Arvind Poothia, Director General, Engineering Staff college of India and F.C.S.Peter, NAC Director General were among those who participated in the inaugural programme.